Exploring poverty traps and social exclusion in South Africa using qualitative and quantitative data

Abstract

Recent theoretical work hypothesises that a polarised society like South Africa will suffer a legacy of ineffective social capital and blocked pathways of upward mobility that leaves large numbers of people trapped in poverty. To explore these ideas, this paper employs a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Novel econometric analysis of asset dynamics over the 1993-98 period identifies a dynamic asset poverty threshold that signals that large numbers of South Africans are indeed trapped without a pathway out of poverty. Qualitative analysis of this period and the period 1998-2001 more deeply examines patterns of mobility, and confirms the continuation of this pattern of limited upward mobility and a low-level poverty trap. In addition, the qualitative data permit a closer look at the specific role played by social relationships. While finding ample evidence of active social capital and networks, these are more helpful for non-poor households. For the poor, social capital at best helps stabilise livelihoods at low levels and does little to promote upward mobility. While there is thus some economic sense to sociability in South Africa, elimination of the polarised economic legacy of apartheid will ultimately require more proactive efforts to assure that households have access to a minimum bundle of assets and to the markets needed to effectively build on those assets over time.

‘Growing up’ and ‘moving up’: Metaphors that legitimise upward social mobility in Soweto

“…Apart from earlier sociological work by Brandel-Syrier (1971), Mayer (1977) and Nyquist (1983), and the more recent work by Telzak (2014), Adato et al (2006), Nieftagodien & Gaule (2012), and Phadi & Manda (2010, most of the recent literature is quantitative in approach (see Burger et al, 2014). While there is a substantial literature on migration and movement of people across southern Africa, Lee's (2009) recent book African Women and Apartheid: Migration and Settlement in Urban South Africa starts addressing the issue of social mobility and metaphor more directly.…”

Horizontal Inequalities: Explaining Persistence and Change

“…Borjas also showed empirically that 'the skills and labor market outcomes of today's generation depend not only on the skills and labor market experiences of their parents but also on the average skills and labor market experiences of the ethnic group in the parent's generation' (Borjas 1992: 148). There is empirical evidence for South Africa too that asymmetries of social capital have blocked pathways of social mobility even in the post-apartheid era (Adato 2006 Finally, group inequalities in most cases include political inequalities in the same direction as the socio-economic inequalities. This means those who are deprived in socio-economic dimensions also lack political power.…”

“…Adato, 2006;Borjas, 1992Borjas, , 1995Durlauf, 2002). These analyses have generally focussed on one or two elements accounting for HIs over time.…”

The Impact Facebook and Twitter has on the Cognitive Social Capital of University Students

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